At The Count Of Two
by The Threat
Summary: [Dekaranger] Sequel to 'Mary Shelley's Dekaranger'. In this story, Flora returns. Though... one would wish it were under better circumstances.
1. Chapter 1

One day, the Dekarangers were being called together. The reason remained unknown. What was certain however is that it was urgent, and someone's life may be at stake.

When all six of them had arrived, Doggy began: "It's good to have you all here now, especially you, Sen-Chan."

Sen was a little surprised: "M... Me? How so?"

Doggy did not answer. Instead he pressed a few buttons on his keyboard, after which some surveillance footage was shown on the screen behind him.

From a bird's eye view, everyone could easily recognize a jewelry store. A woman walked in, holding up a gun, telling the sales manager to give her everything they have, and judging from the footage that included the money in the counter. None of the six detectives saw this as any real problem, for SPD anyways. This was a case for the regular police. But that changed when they saw who the woman really was. Somebody whom Sen knew best: the android girl Flora.

"No..." he was startled, "She couldn't... That's not possible!"

"That's exactly what I told her supervisors." Doggy replied, "But then they told me there's no mistaking it. They found her fingerprints on several places, and as you can see here, she even accidentally drops her license here. And this is only one of many crimes.

Sen didn't know what to say, nor what to think. So Ban decides to talk for him: "What kind of crimes?"

"Space ship-theft, bank robbery, and multiple murder-attempts."

Sen got up in fury: "I refuse to believe that Flora did any of that!"

"Sen-chan! Calm do..." Umeko couldn't seem to bear watching him like this.

"Don't tell me to calm down!"

"Then I order you to do so!" Doggy intervened.

This came quite as a shock. Nobody's ever seen Sen this angry before, or even angry at all. Trying to sound calm, he asked: "Is there any way I can help her?"

"There's not much you can do." Doggy sounded sad, "Or much anyone can do, for that matter."

"What does that mean!?"

"Since she's an android, there's no need for her to be judged. However, since Sen gave her a heart, she is considered to be a person, like anyone else. Therefor the highest court is not sure whether to judge over her as a person, or a robot. There was never any law on this."

Sen couldn't believe he was hearing this: "There has to be some kind of rule on this. It can't be the first time that..."

"Sen-chan!" Ban interrupted him, "Didn't you hear what Boss just said? There's nothing you can do!"

"What's happening to Flora now?" Jasmine asked.

Doggy answered: "After seeing this footage, she refuses to talk now. She demands to see Sen, and nobody else."

Sen was happy to hear this: "Then what am I waiting for? I'll..."

"It's not that simple." Doggy interrupted, "Because you two have a special bond, you might compromise the investigation."

"Compromise? But they..."

"It hurts me even more than it hurts you. As a matter of fact, I wasn't even supposed to tell you about this, but my instinct told me I should."

Hoji, being the one to remain calm most of the time, started: "So... what will you do now?"

Sen replied, first in a low whisper, then pretty loud: "There's got to be a way to help her. There's definitely a way to help her!"

Sen got up and left the room, as fast as he had never done before.

Umeko seemed to be rather taken at this. Never has she expected such behavior from him. She got up as well: "I... I better go with him. He might er... need my help."

Thinking of an ulterior motive, Tetsu remarked, as he swayed his index finger: "Nonsense!"

This remark was pointless though, as Umeko had already left before Tetsu even pronounced the second syllable of that word.


	2. Chapter 2

Sen was to be found in a higher level corridor, staring out the window. He was remembering everything he had taught Flora. How to smile, how to have fun, how to be brave,... he had been a good father to her.

Suddenly, his thoughts were interrupted by some loud voice at his right-hand side. He turned to see Umeko, not being the same smiling child she always was, even when angry.

"If it would make you feel any better..." Umeko tried to comfort him, "... she was designed for evil. Maybe she..."

"Evil was her purpose..." Sen interrupted, "... evil made her, but evil is not her. I refuse to believe something went wrong!"

"Sen-chan! What if there was something programmed inside of her to do evil, and suddenly..."

"Jasmine read her mind..." Sen reasoned, "... and there was nothing!"

"Well, maybe she couldn't read her mind because Flora's a machine."

"She's a machine, with a heart! This can't be said about others! She wouldn't just... do whatever Boss said she did."

"But what if...?"

"Listen!" Sen nearly shouted, "I refuse to believe whatever everyone trying to make me believe here! Flora's a good girl, and I will not rest until I helped her out of this!"

Umeko got a little shocked over all this: "But... Then... what will you do?"

Sen started thinking for one moment, for once without doing his usual pose: "There must be some rule on this! If I look into the computer's archives, I'll find a way to help her. I'll just wait until everyone else is gone home."

He turned away from her, going who-really-knows-where, leaving Umeko a little upset.


	3. Chapter 3

That evening, Sen did exactly what he said he would. Umeko, whether he liked it or not, stayed with him. She brought him something to eat or to drink every once in a while, but ended up eating or drinking it all up herself.

Bedtime had passed a few hours ago, but Sen, even when half awake, was still searching, and Umeko couldn't help staring at him, as if hoping this will end soon.

"Hope I'm not keeping you awake!" a familiar voice spoke to her.

Umeko got spooked, but recognized that accent immediately. She turned around to see her favorite westerner: "Wells!"

"Good evening, Umeko."

"What are you doing here?"

"Well... Since they don't call me 'Detective of the moonlight' for nothing, I'm supposed to be asking you that same question."

"Oh!" Umeko was a little overtaken by this, "Well, Sen-chan is trying to see whether he can help some friend of his, and..."

"I know all about that android." Wells interrupted, "I know what Sen's doing here. But I want to know what YOU are doing here."

Clearly, Wells just asked her a question to which she didn't know any answer, so he asked again: "Come on! It's an easy question. Why are you here?"

Umeko was hesitant: "I... I er..."

"Can't leave his side, can you!?" Wells snickered.

Umeko was spooked, but tried to sound surprised: "What do you mean?"

"Please, Umeko!" Wells didn't sound like he was begging though, "You can try to fool your team, you can fool yourself, but you can't fool me. It's pretty obvious to everyone just how you feel for him."

Umeko turned her head to Sen. This time, his head was lying on the computer's keyboard. She couldn't help feeling sorry for him. But at the same time, only then she realized just how obvious she was acting.

"If only he'd spend so much time with me as he is spending time on her." she moaned.

"Once he's finished with this, I'm sure he will."

Umeko didn't feel that way: "I'm not sure whether it ever will. He's not even suppo..."

"I know." Wells interrupted her, "Want me to speed things up a little?"

Umeko sounded happier than ever: "If you could do that..."

"Say nothing more!" Wells interrupted her for the last time, as he finally entered the room.


	4. Chapter 4

Wells marched up to the motionless Sen. He used his index finger as the dangerous end of a gun and held it against Sen as he screamed in plain English: "Hands up!!!"

"Don't shoot! I'll do..." Sen woke up immediately, speaking in terrified Japanese. It took him a few seconds to realize he was being punked. He turned around to see who just did a hold up on him: "Thought so. You'd have to be an American to think of something like this."

"I'll just think of that as a compliment." Wells replied, "Why won't you take a break for a little time!?"

"I can't take a break right now! Flora..."

Wells sighed: "Unless you take a break, your condition will change both physically and mentally. And that doesn't help anyone, including Flora."

Sen thought about it. He did promise himself he would do anything to help her. Therefor, he agreed to take a break. He took his usual seat at his desk. He wanted to drink the cup of tea that was put there, until he noticed somebody else had already drank of it.

Not noticing, or not caring about that cup, Wells started: "You know, I've read just about every file there is on her. The one you wrote when you first met her, until the last one in which she's suspected of those crimes."

"I know what the files say." Sen replied, annoyed.

"I know." Wells continued, "And there are some things which I can't seem to figure out."

Sen, though he didn't exactly sound interested, asked: "Like what?"

"Like why did she carry her license when she was robbing that jewelry store?"

"Because we are supposed to have them at all times, even on our days off."

"Yes. But why doing that during a robbery as well?"

"Flora does take some things too literally." Sen replied flatly, "Last time I saw her, she still needed to say 'one plus one is two' in order to smile."

Wells was rethinking this, then said: "Okay, seems easy to believe. But then again, why holding it up her sleeve?"

Sen was surprised to hear this: "There's no way you can carry your license up your sleeve without the risk of dropping it."

"Exactly!"

Sen didn't seem to understand this. Neither did Umeko, who "happened to be overhearing" everything.

"Don't you think it's a bit of a coincidence that she dropped her license just when she left the store?" Wells continued, "If you zoom in on certain frames when watching the tape, you'd notice that when she keeps her arm down, she's actually holding her sleeve, and when her arm's up, you can clearly see the license up her sleeve. She didn't just lose her license, she dropped it there on purpose."

This was obviously something Sen couldn't figure out either: "Why would she do that?"

"More importantly, why framing herself for a robbery, and afterwards still deny she did any of it?"

"Robots are really weird." Umeko reasoned.

Sen only just noticed her, and began to start agitated: "Didn't I tell you to go home?"

Wells tried to keep the peace here: "I don't think this is the right time to argue about that."

"Yeah!" Umeko agreed, "And after bringing you some food, which you didn't eat, or bringing you something to drink, which you didn't..."

"Did I say 'this isn't the right time' in English or Japanese!?" Wells exclaimed, "Or some completely different language which you don't understand?"

A short moment of silence, which can be considered as a silent apology, is what followed.

Wells continued as if nothing happened: "Anyway, when I looked at the files more thoroughly, I read her fingerprints matched as well."

Sen didn't see the relevance: "So...?"

"This is an android we're talking about." Wells seemed to need to remind Sen, "I was surprised to read she even has fingerprints! And that's only the tip of the iceberg here. She can actually do facial expressions. Her... skin or whatever it is, would fold just like a human's would... Even that robot dog AIBO., back in the days, wasn't that sophisticated."

"I know she's unique."

Wells didn't notice Sen said anything: "That robot was built in the image of dogs, just like Flora was built in the image of humans. But in order to be made that much into detail, she couldn't be made in the image of humans in general. She must be made in the image of one human in particular!"

Sen was suddenly having a revelation: "So that woman on the tape...!"

Wells seemed happy to see Sen finally got the picture: "Putting all things together, I'm pretty sure..."

"That woman wasn't Flora!" Sen exclaimed

"Wait a minute!" Umeko intervened, "If that wasn't her, then who is she?"

"Did you even listen?" Wells sounded annoyed, "That woman on the tape was the model used to create Flora. And given Flora's creator's background, what kind of a woman do you think she is?"

"She couldn't be a criminal!" Umeko reasoned, "She would be in our database if she was!"

"Really?" Wells was skeptic about that.

"Yes!" Umeko was sure of this, "They'd find her, and arrest her, and not Flora!"

"Makes sense." Wells sounded cynical this time, "But..."

"They didn't need to look for her!" Sen finished the sentence for him, "They all know Flora! They all recognized her! They didn't need to look for that woman in the criminal database!"

"Bingo!" Wells laughed.

"I'll do a search for her!" Sen said, as he returned to the computers.

"We'll just wait here." Wells remarked cynically.

Umeko was still surprised about something: " 'Bingo'?"

"Just a word people say in the West." Wells explained, "It means something like "I've won" or "We have a winner" or "Correct"."

"Oh! Like 'ping pong'! I get it."

Umeko suddenly ran to Sen, see if he had found anything. Wells in the meantime had something else to figure out: " 'Ping pong'?"


	5. Chapter 5

The next morning, everybody had arrived at the Dekabase as soon as they could. Everyone was really curious about what progress Sen had made. To show his discovery to everyone, he used the holographic projector.

"The woman you see here is a Chikyuu Seijin, called Nishijima Sakurai." he told them, "Looking familiar?"

Ban was the first to speak: "Wow! She looks just like Flora!"

"Are you trying to tell us that this Sakurai is the one committing all those crimes?" Doggy asked.

Sen paused for a second, then replied: "Well, she has been convicted for identity theft, murders and robbery before. So yes, I'm pretty sure she is."

"But why pretending to be Flora?" Hoji wondered.

Sen thought the answer was obvious: "It appears that she isn't quite happy about having a Doppel-ganger somewhere out there."

Hoji still wasn't convinced: "That's no reason to do those things."

"Well..." Wells started, "... imagine someone that looks exactly like you, that is everything you're not but at the same time everything you should be. Would you still say that?"

Hoji was annoyed with Wells's presence: "Boss, why is he still here?"

Before Doggy could answer, Wells replied in his usual cynical tone: "If you don't like me as a new member of the team, then why don't you quit the job! It'll be the fastest way for you to get rid of me."

"If he weren't here, Hoji..." Sen backed him up, "... I wouldn't have figured any of this out!"

"I think you would." Wells corrected him, as he looked at Umeko, "I just sped things up a little."

"That doesn't make any sense!" Jasmine remarked, "How did she get to Flora's license?"

Wells explained: "Since we technically don't need a license to enter Dekabase, no matter on which planet, and everybody would recognize... what's her name again...? They would recognize Sakurai as Flora, so nobody would suspect anything."

"So she could easily grab hold of her license." Sen finished for him, "This has all been well thought out! She would attempt to murder people, and let them easily escape, so they can tell the police Flora's the one trying to kill them."

"Maybe she never wanted to kill those people, but the victims of a murder are the best witnesses!" Tetsu realized.

"Also, she would rob places with surveillance camera's, so everyone would see her." Sen added.

"What I can't understand is how she could possibly look so much like Flora!" Ban said.

Everyone in the room, apart from Wells, seemed to faint at that remark. Wells was surprised to see this, so he asked: "Did you people eat at all this morning?"

"Seriously!" Ban kept going on, "How can a person look that much like an unnatural person?"

Wells was clearly annoyed to have to explain this: "If Meteus is to be referred to as Flora's father, than Sakurai would be her mother!"

Ban still couldn't understand, But Wells didn't feel like trying to explain to him any more.

"No matter." Sen said, "Boss! I would like to request Flora to be transported here. It's the only way I can be sure of her safety."

"I'll need more than what you've just told us in order to perform that request." Doggy replied.

"I've got a fully detailed report written." Sen convinced him, "So all..."

"Very well." Doggy interrupted, "I'll read it and ask Numa O to bring her here. As for all of you, you are dismissed until she gets here!"

"Roger!" Everyone said in unison. Apart for Wells, who didn't say anything at all.

Everybody turned around. However, when Wells turned around he bumped in on Jasmine, causing her to drop her license. Seemingly nervous, Wells mumbled something in English, after which he apologized: "Sorry about that!"

He bent down to pick up her license for her.

Jasmine smiled as he was doing this: "It's no big deal."

Wells gave it back to her, then he turned around without another word and left the room.

"Thanks again!" Jasmine screamed after him.

She left the room as well. But as she was doing so, she removed one of her gloves and touched her license, trying to pick up Wells' thoughts... which seemed to be somewhat disturbing.


	6. Chapter 6

Later that day, around midday, everybody was at the Dekabase's docks, awaiting Flora's arrival. Particularly Sen was exited about this. Moments after her shuttle docked, Flora stepped out, only to run to Sen as soon as she saw him, and wrap her arms around him. Particularly Umeko was jealous when she saw this.

"I was afraid I would never see you again, Sen-chan." Flora said.

"It's okay. I'll protect you, no matter what." Sen assured her.

Sen didn't seem to pay much attention to the look Umeko had on her face, as he showed Flora the rest of the group.

"I suppose you remember everyone here." Sen told her, "Except for of course..."

"Yes." Flora replied: "Ban. Jasmine. Umeko. Tetsu. Hoji. And Wells."

This seemed weird to Wells: "Hang on! How did you know my name?"

Flora explained: "They gave me a file about you."

"And that's the same way you know me?" Tetsu asked for confirmation.

"Yes." she answered flatly.

"Then I suppose you wouldn't mind if Jasmine examined you!" Wells said, just as flatly.

"What?" Jasmine didn't remember to have heard anything about checking her.

Flora , immediately after Wells spoke, had hidden herself behind Sen, after which she said: "Sen-chan! That guy's scaring me!"

"I just need to be sure whether she can be trusted." Wells explained.

"Just like we still need to about you!" Ban remarked.

Wells sighed deeply, as Flora asked Sen: "He doesn't trust me?"

"Apparently not." Sen answered, "Have Jasmine examine you anyway!"

"Sen-chan?" this surprised her greatly, "You don't trust me either?"

"I do." he assured her, "But I want Wells to trust you too!"

Sen nodded to Jasmine, who then took off her glove and touched Flora. What she saw then seemed frightening.

Sen noticed Jasmine's look on her face: "What's wrong? What do you see?"

"Nothing!" she answered.

Sen didn't understand: "Then what's the problem?"

"That's exactly the problem!" she replied, "I don't see anything at all!"

"Then there's nothing to be worried about." Wells stated.

Everybody made their usual look of surprise, when they drop their jaws and opened their eyes widely.

"You are all scary when you do that!" Wells remarked.

"What makes you think that there's nothing wrong with this?" Tetsu asked.

"She's an android!" Wells said matter-of-factly, "I'd find it hard to imagine she'd be able to read her mind at all."

Sen sighed of relief. As Flora seemed more relaxed as well, he started to her: "So... I suppose you wanna get your batteries recharged first?!"

Flora nodded, after which Sen lead the way and she followed. As a way of saying goodbye, she smiled at everyone.

Once both of them were out of the Dekas' sight, Umeko dares to speak freely: "What is it exactly between those two? I just can't understand it!"

Tetsu thought he had it figured out: "I suppose those two just like each other that much."

"Looks more like a father-daughter relation to me." Jasmine figured, "What do you think, Wells?"

Since she didn't hear any reply from him, she called for him: "Wells?!"

Wells did not answer. He seemed to have something else on his mind: "Just remembered I had other things to do."

He left immediately after he said this.

"What was that just now?" Hoji wondered.

"Why does he always act that mysterious?" Umeko added.

Ban tried to keep it simple: "Try not to understand westerners!"

Jasmine smiled: "Oh, he's not that mysterious."


	7. Chapter 7

About an hour or so later, Sen payed Flora a little visit in her room: "Full charged?"

Flora was enthusiastic about him being here: "Yes!"

"There's this new attraction at that theme park we've been at first time we met." Sen said, "You wanna go and see it?"

"Yes!" she replied.

She marched to the door, and left the room. Or at least that was the plan, but both she and Sen bumped in on Wells as they were about to leave.

"I'm sorry to bother you two." he apologized.

"It's alright." Sen assured him, "We were about to leave right now anyway, so..."

"It's important for her to have a good father." Wells remarked, "Right?"

Sen was under the impression there was something else: "Yes, it is. Something you wanna tell me?"

"No." Wells replied, "Well, not me anyway."

Sen didn't hide his surprise: "What's that mean?"

"Let's just say..." Wells explained, "... there's someone in the team who's to shy to talk to you about this directly."

Sen wasn't sure what this is about, but decided to forget about it: "OK, I'll keep that in mind."

They both left the room.


	8. Chapter 8

That evening, Sen and Flora were to be found somewhere at the park, watching the sun set.

"Feeling any better?" he asked her.

"Yes!"

"After being locked up for such a long time, for crimes you didn't commit,... It was unforgivable what that Sakurai did."

"I know that you would do everything to get her!"

"I will! But in the meantime, I have to keep you safe from her."

"No!" a close female voice said, "You have to keep me safe from her!"

Sen turned to see who said that. It was a girl who looked like Flora: Sakurai!

"Stay behind me, Flora!" Sen advised her.

Flora ignored Sen's advice, however, and immediately attacked Sakurai. If it weren't for the fact that both girls wore different clothes, you wouldn't be able to tell which one of the two was really winning the fight. When Sakurai appeared to be winning, all there was for Flora to do was take out her license and change. But just before Flora could say the magic words, Sakurai kicked it out of her hands. It flew away from the both of them. Sen immediately ran after it. Just as he was about to pick it up, someone's foot stepped on it.

Sen looked up to see who stepped on it: "Wells?"

"There's something you should know, Sen." Wells told him.

Sen looked at him more surprised: "I don't understand!"

As Wells was picking up the license, he remarked: "Funny! I've seen more of these being dropped these past two days than I ever had during my past time at SPD."

He looked at the fighting girls: "Hey you two!"

They both stopped fighting, after which Wells demanded: "Smile!"

Flora: "Why do you want me to smile?"

Sakurai: "One plus one is two!"

Sen was more than surprised to see this. The whole time he was being nice to Flora, he was really being nice to Sakurai. And he didn't even notice anything weird about her.

"Funny!" Wells laughed, " 'Flora' didn't need to do that earlier!"

"There's no excuse for this!"

Behind the two doubles there was another SPD agent: Marie. She spoke to Sakurai: "Pretending to be Flora, only so that he would protect you, and in time destroy the real Flora."

Sen was getting infuriated: "Pretending to be someone else... playing with my feelings... UNFORGIVABLE!!!!!"

"Not the first time I heard you say that." Wells sighed, after which he threw the license back to the real Flora.

The other five Dekarangers had rushed to the scene as well.

Ban was surprised to see Marie: "Marie! Nice to see you again!"

"What is going on here?!" Hoji wondered.

Sakurai, the real one, punched Flora in the face. Then she jumped away from her, and stood on a bench.

"The old way to feel superior." Wells remarked.

"That Meteus promised he'll just use her to be a computer to control Gigas." Sakurai exclaimed, "But now it seems like she's used for police business now. I have a reputation to uphold! I can't have someone that looks like me being a cop!"

Wells can't stop laughing: "What did I say? Being everything she isn't, but at the same time everything she should be!"

"So that's why you wanted to frame Flora?" Hoji still needed confirmation.

"Too bad there were a few flaws in your grand scheme." Wells started, "I found a syringe in your room. I had Swan analyze it. It appears to be some kind of mental drug. It makes the mind a little foggy."

"That's why I couldn't see anything!" Jasmine had it figured out now.

"All I needed to do next was find out what exactly happened back in that Dekabase." Wells added.

"And you found out somebody erased the surveillance tapes!" Sakurai guessed.

"With Marie's help..." Wells continued, "... I could get to the backups you didn't erase. Not a smart thing to do, saying 'Let's go to the beach' when the camera's on!"

"With a tracking device, we could easily find Flora's energy readings!" Marie added.

"You're all very clever..." Sakurai complimented them, "... but ultimately you can't stop me from accomplishing my goal!"

Sakurai had something around her wrist, which had some kind of red jewel. She pressed it as if it were a button, and suddenly some kind of armor appeared, protecting all of her body.

The whole team was surprised to see this. Ban was the first to talk: "Muscle Gear?"

"Some of Abrera's products must still be traded at the black markets!" Jasmine thought out loud.

"Change stand-by!" Sen ordered.

"Roger!" everyone exclaimed in unison.

"Was wondering when you were going to say that." Wells said, after which he took out his own license, pressed the right buttons and transformed into his Dekasuit.

Again in unison, all of the seven others shouted: "Emergency! Dekaranger! Face on!"

Once they had all changed, they were about to attack Sakurai. But for some unknown reason, both Dekagreen and Dekasilver jumped in front of them, standing in their way.

"Huh?" Dekared was the one to question their actions, "What do you think you're doing, you westerner?! And Sen, why are you helping him."

"I'm not helping him!" Dekagreen explained.

"This is something Flora has to take care of on her own, so we're really helping her." Dekasilver continued.

"Then why did we change?" Jasmine asked.

"Back up." Dekasilver answered.


	9. Chapter 9

Flora moved herself in front of Sakurai. If she knew how to make herself look angry, she would have had that look on her face.

"Chikyuu Seijin Nishijima Sakurai!" she started, "For multiple murders and murder attempts, bank robberies and jewel heft, plus impersonating and framing an officer,... Judgment!!!"

Flora held up her license, allowing the highest court in the universe to decide over Sakurai's fate.

Sakurai questioned Flora's statement: "Are you sure that I was the one impersonating anyone, or is it rather you that is impersonating me?"

A red cross had appeared on Flora's license: "Delete approved! Emergency! Dekadroid! Face on!"

She too stroke her pose and changed into her very own Dekasuit. It was completely black, with the motive of what looked like a green net. A green web if you will. Her designation number was 01.

Once she was finished changing, she said: "Using mechanics to strike down evil! Detective of aid! Dekadroid!"

Dekagreen stated: "They say nothing beats the original! Hopefully this is one of those exceptional cases."

Dekasilver had other thoughts: "Are you guys being trained to pose like that?"

Dekadroid did not hesitate any longer, nor did Sakurai. A mother-daughter quarrel like nobody has ever seen before. Unfortunately, Dekadroid's abilities were no match for Sakurai's Muscle Gear. It didn't take long until Sakurai had her hands wrapped around Dekadroid's neck.

"That won't help!" Dekadroid remarked, "I don't brea..."

Suddenly, something stopped her from finishing that sentence. Sakurai explained: "Who says I'm trying to strangle you, while I can squeeze your head off!"

Some of the other Dekas couldn't stand by anymore just watching and waiting to see how this was going to end. Especially Dekared was fired up: "I can't stand it no more! I have to do something! D-Magn..."

Before he could even begin to use his weapons, somebody else had already fired. Sakurai was down, and all Dekarangers looked at whoever it was who fired. It was Dekapink in S.W.A.T. mode.

"She's all yours, Flora!" she added.

Dekadroid thanked her, after which she shouted: "D-Ingram!"

Dekadroid fired as many bullets as she could with her gun. Sakurai got weakened, but was still standing.

"S.W.A.T. mode on!" ordered everyone who could, whom changed into their S.W.A.T. mode.

"S.P.D. license, set!" he added, as everyone readied their weapons.

"D-Smashers!" came from Dekagold.

"Fire Fist!" Dekabreak shouted.

Dekasilver... merely took out his rifle without a word.

All team members's attacks at once were enough to delete Sakurai once and for all.

"Got you!" Dekadroid said.

"With this, case complete!" Dekagreen finished.

* * *

Note: though "Flora" is owned by Toei Company, the "Dekadroid" suit is my creation 


	10. Chapter 10

Later that night, Flora had got back to her shuttle. As the shuttle was taking of, Sen was still waving her goodbye. What he didn't realize is that Umeko wasn't too far away. And what Umeko didn't realize is that somebody else was right behind her.

"I assume you now know that Flora sees Sen as a father, and always has done so." Wells said.

Umeko, who wasn't surprised at all this time, replied: "Yes."

"And after what you've done for her, she's starting to see you as her mother."

Umeko, thought for a moment before saying: "Haven't thought of that."

"Then think of this: would you want her to have parents who are divorced before they even started a relationship?"

"No, of course not!" Umeko answered with an obvious tone, though still a little shy.

"Well, the child's gone, and mom and dad are by themselves!"

Umeko didn't need to hear much more. She decided to make her move, and ran towards Sen.

Wells knew that his work was done here, so he turned around and left the two lovers alone. Though for some reason, he couldn't help sighing over something.

"Funny isn't it?" a female voice spoke to him, which he recognized as Jasmine's.

Wells was surprised to hear her. He turned to look at her and asked: "What is funny?"

"You know exactly how to help others to have a relationship, but are afraid to make a move yourself."

Wells had a slightly terrified look on his face: "What are you talking about?"

Jasmine held up her license as she spoke: "I think you know what I mean!"

Wells was still not sure: "No I don't! What are you...?"

At that moment, not only did he notice she was holding up her license, he also realized he did touch it earlier that day. And since Jasmine is an ESPer, she would have seen what went through Wells' mind when he touched it. As a response, he said something in English.

"Can I assume that was a proposal?" Jasmine laughed.

Suddenly, Wells had no idea what to say, how to act, or what to do. Suddenly, he heard Jasmine giggling, so he asked: "What!?"

Jasmine was still giggling: "A lot is going through your mind right now!"

It was then he noticed that Jasmine had taken of her glove, and just read his mind... again! In reflex he moved away from her and exclaimed: "Will you stop doing that!"

"Do you like me?" Jasmine asked him, still laughing as she was.

Wells hesitated to answer, but Jasmine was about to lay her hand on his shoulder again. This caused a sort of a cat-and-mouse game between a mind-reader and a mind-read.

**THE END**


End file.
